"Mercy High School instilled values of love, tolerance, and acceptance for all people in me. I fear that the administration at Mercy is much less tolerant and accepting than what they preach to their students. I understand that they are a Catholic institution and that withholding the traditional Catholic values is a priority for them. However, the #wePROMIse message is not to force what we believe on anyone, rather fight for the tolerance, acceptance and love that every human person deserves--
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"After coming out in college, I realized I that I had been attracted to women from a very young age. When I thought about why it took me until college to finally accept this part of myself, I was able to contribute a large part of it to the years I spent in Catholic school.
While my four years at Mercy High School were never aggressively promoting an anti-lgbtq+ message, they were certainly filled with subtle messages from faculty and staff about their lack of acceptance and intolerance regarding LGBTQ+ issues. Even though I |
"My four years at Mercy High School were punctuated by constant anti-gay messages. I was taught to believe that being gay is sinful and I truly believed it. I always felt so ashamed of myself. Being outed during high school wasn't easy, but I made it through by making the most of the situation. I never confirmed the rumors out of fear of repercussions from the school.
Prom season is an exciting time for high school girls. I remember my friends talking about dresses, hair appointments, and everything that comes along with the special night. The plans eventually shifted to include how the girls were planning on asking their dates to prom. I was crushed that I could not plan a special way to ask my high school girlfriend to prom simply because we were both girls. I wanted to be able to get dressed up for what is arguably the most exciting night of high school and have my fairy tale night. I pretended I didn't mind, but it just made me feel so different and as if I didn't deserve to have the full prom experience. All throughout prom night, I felt so sad seeing everyone take pictures with their dates and dance together. All I wanted was the chance to have those same experiences. Mercy still continues to claim that not allowing same-sex prom dates protects the students. The idea that two high school girls going to prom is dangerous is laughable. The only thing causing harm is Mercy's dedication to archaic beliefs. To this day, I still struggle with the residual shame that was brought on by my time at Mercy. I hope to see a change so that ALL Mercy girls can have an equal chance to enjoy prom and to come of age in a loving, accepting environment." -Allison McCormick, Class of 2013 |
"I enjoyed my Catholic high school experience so much at Mercy that I decided to attend a Jesuit University for college. Following the same Catholic principles as Mercy, my university stands by their convictions about homosexuality, but goes above and beyond for the large LGBTQ+ community present within the student body, including allowing same sex couples at senior ball! There's no reason Mercy should not feel comfortable doing the same."
-Alexis Quattrini, Class of 2013 |